


Beautiful Cruelty

by QuirkQuartz



Series: Beautiful Cruelty [2]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Amity Blight Has a Crush, Amity Centric, Amity has feelings and has no idea how to deal with it, Angst, Awkward Crush, Awkward Flirting, Bi Luz Noceda, Blushing, But sometime we see Luz's side, Canon LGBTQ Character, Character Study, Emotional, F/F, Falling In Love, Fanart, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Heartache, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Introspection, It tends to vary, Lesbian Amity Blight, Love, Lumity, Luz's smile breaks Amity, Oblivious Luz Noceda, Owl house, Pining, Romance, Slow Burn, So much blushing, Teen Crush, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:48:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 19,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26109724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuirkQuartz/pseuds/QuirkQuartz
Summary: "Was it just a Human thing to be cruel?Another page was flipped over as Amity continued to read. Her thoughts were now starting to fill up with memories and feelings regarding her newfound revelation, and Amity had reached a conclusion of her own.Luz was cruel too.But Luz wasn’t aware of when she had been cruel. And she was never cruel intentionally. Far from it. Luz was cruel by being so, so kind, and so… Herself, that it made Amity’s heart ache over and over again."After Grom, Amity finds herself with a dozen feelings that she can't even begin to make sense of - Of course, she was already aware she had a crush on Luz, but it's sheer intensity leaves her confused about everything.As she begins to figure out the extent of her feelings towards Luz, and becomes more and more aware of the Human, she can't help but note all the ways that let her get close to Luz, and that let her soothe her aching heart for just a short while, and the ways Luz seems to make that heartache worse, even if it is unintentionally.And there's something that feels almost cruel about that.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Series: Beautiful Cruelty [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1896628
Comments: 59
Kudos: 303





	1. Confused Heartbeat

_Before reading this - I would like to suggest that you read my previous story, “I Don’t Get Her”. It’s not essential, but I throw in a few references to it throughout the story. It’s only a one shot and not reading it isn’t going to ruin your experience but if you’re interested in a tiny bit of context then I suggest reading that.[Link is here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24077788) _

* * *

When it started, it started as all things did. Small. 

A fuzzy feeling that made her chest feel warm and made her smile involuntarily - Something hardly noticeable, that wasn’t that much different to the feeling of having a close friend nearby. Small, and unremarkable. And it grew bit by bit as she became more and more fond of them, incremental bit by incremental bit, so she didn’t notice its growth right away. 

Then it evolved, and turned into her heart beating harder and harder whenever her thoughts wandered towards them, or whenever the subject of those thoughts was near her. Her stomach feeling… Weird, but not in a bad sort of way? Her face burning red, and her composure finding itself lost in the winds. 

Eventually, it became a part of her daily life, without any input on her part. Her mind would just wander entirely on it’s own, and these feelings would make themselves known very, very rapidly. And those feelings would then become a huge part of her day, and she couldn’t do anything about them. They impacted how she thought, how she acted, what she said and what she did. It was like she had lost control over her life. 

But not in a way she could say she definitively hated. But not in a way she definitively liked, either. It was…. So confusing. 

Amity couldn’t tell when it started. 

There wasn’t just one moment where everything - Or, well, anything, for that matter - made absolute perfect sense to her, when she finally knew what had been happening to her over the last few weeks. Or even began to make sense, for that matter. More intensely here, less so there, a few days where she didn’t think about it all that much, and days where it was all she could think about. Days when thinking about it made her feel sick, and days where thinking about it filled her with feelings of giddiness that she normally kept reserved, or would only express around the Emperor's Coven. 

But they weren’t _unfamiliar_ feelings. 

Which was why her confusion now was frustrating her. 

She had spent the night trying to study. There was supposed to be some sort of exam for her Track tomorrow - In all honesty, she hadn’t been paying that much attention when it was being announced or what exactly they were being tested on, the same issues in her head, like they had been all day keeping her distracted. And those thoughts were still jumping around in her head later that same day, and up until right now. They made concentrating on the words in front of her impossible. 

Eventually, she’d given up, and closed her textbooks. Whatever questions got thrown at her during the exam, she was already pretty certain that she’d be fine - She had made it a point to memorize everything that they had been taught, and to push herself that bit harder. She could manage. If anything was going to mess up her grade, it was going to be these thoughts and feelings. So she set about trying to settle everything in her head, to calm her mind down so that she could focus on what was important. 

That was easier said than it was done, it turned out. 

It was hard to even describe what it was, even in her own head. It was like a warm feeling that covered her whole body, and everything felt lighter one moment, then fuzzy the next, then she’d find herself losing the composure she held onto. 

Then the nerves would kick in. 

And then the absolute dread kicked in. 

When fear set in. 

Amity sighed. 

Since she stopped her attempts at studying, the night had been spent doing nothing but pacing back and forth in her room, thinking, and even having out-loud arguments with herself. Mentally debating herself on her thoughts and points, and countering those with the same thoughts and points. 

_“Nothing has changed. You’re overthinking it.”_

_“If nothing has changed why does this bother you so much?”_

_“I’m just trying to make sense of everything!”_

_“You know what it is.”_

_“Not like this. Not to this degree.”_

_“Then what is it?”_

_“I… I don’t know. But - But nothing changed between us!”_

_“You don’t believe that and you know you don’t. Especially not after - ”_ She cut herself off. 

It was _exhausting_ , but she still couldn’t focus. Or sleep for that matter. How long she had been at it, she’d lost track by now. An hour at least, and she wasn’t any closer to figuring anything out. 

It wasn’t like this was the first time she’d felt something similar to this. She was fourteen. She’d had feelings like this before. Had people who she liked. People who made her feel awkward and anxious. She’d felt similarly before. 

...Maybe that was where the issue was. 

She had felt _similarly_. 

Not _like this_. 

...Nothing was that simple when it came to Luz, was it? There was always some sort of complication. Nothing was ever just… Straight forward with her. 

The room felt warm all of a sudden, and Amity realized that her hands were sweating. Glancing out the window, she was able to see her own reflection, and saw that her cheeks and ears were red. Now that she was paying attention, she realized her heart was beating a lot faster too. It hurt slightly. But also didn’t. 

“Ah…” Her right hand gripped at her chest, and her face buried itself in her left hand. She was a mess and Gods, she felt like one too. She needed air. Cold air. Fresh air. 

Pretty much on instinct, she made her way to her desk, and grabbed hold of a few things - A book, a box, and a photograph. As soon as those were in her hands, she opened up her bedroom door, and walked through the corridors as quickly as she could, reached the front door, opened it, stood outside, shut it behind her, and then let out a long, loud sigh as she leaned against it. The late night air was cold against her cheeks. She felt herself calm down a bit. 

There was only so much time she could spend inside before she felt the need to go out, and in doing so, she had found a few spots scattered around the place, and a few near her house, where she liked to go to just sit and think. There was one spot in particular where she always defaulted into going whenever she had a lot on her mind, and really, really needed to be alone to try to sort everything out. Even if she couldn’t solve everything there, it just made her feel…. That bit more at peace when she was there. Maybe that was all she could ask for with this mess in her head. 

Following the path in front of her, she reached up to the bridge. Instead of following the path over, she took a hard right, approaching a small incline at the cliff that no one noticed unless they knew what they were looking for. She then climbed down it, careful where she put her feet and hands, aware that a misplaced limb could send her to the bottom in a less than graceful manner. She got down just fine though. 

A river did exist under the bridge, but it was incredibly small, and was, what, a meter and a half wide? It widened out further down the hill, but there was a pavement that was built alongside the curvature of the archways, mostly there in case someone needed to inspect the bridge for structural weaknesses. These days, it was mostly completely ignored - The bridge was of the absolute highest architectural quality. It would take a century before it started to show any issues. 

When looking out though, in the way the river flowed? 

Bonesbourough was visible. 

Far away, but visible. Some buildings taller than others, and the rest being represented as only vague outlines, and small dots of lights, shimmering. A few silhouettes moved, as those who took on the duties of the night were little more than tiny dots that passed in front of the tiny lights. Sometimes tiny creatures would fly in front of the view, hovering in place, before moving on. Fire-grubs and Glow-moths would dance around one another. 

Everything felt… Small. And it made Amity feel… 

...Easy. Like the towering issues before her were small. Because she knew she was bigger than them. Bigger than anything right in front of her now. And the roof over her head made her feel like there was no one watching, peeking over her shoulder. Neither Emira or Edric knew about this place, and she had gone to extensive care to keep it that way. Especially since they figured out how to get into her secret room at the library.

Certainly, she didn’t feel powerful here - She was under a bridge that she used to hide from the rest of the world. It just made her feel more relaxed. Like she had that bit more control. 

It was good to not just have one place she could go when she wanted to be on her own. At least that way, if someone found out about one of them, she had another place to hide. And sometimes the library was just too far away to reach… And now that place had been found out, so having foresight on that front was good, she supposed. 

Amity sat herself down, leaning against the wall. She felt herself shiver lightly, the cold air seeping into her skin. It felt good though. The stones she leaned on felt cold and rough too, but she welcomed them right now as well. Cold was good. Cold calmed her down. She allowed herself to sigh, and close her eyes for just a brief moment of peace. 

Eyes still shut, she felt for the book she had brought - Her diary. She brought it onto her lap, and opened up the pages, flipping over them until she found one of the entries she remembered writing a while ago. 

_‘I ran into Luce today.’_

Long enough ago that she hadn’t learned how to spell her name properly, she noted. She’d promised herself she’d go back and fix that when she got the chance, but hadn’t, because of… Everything that had been going on in her head. Making corrections to her diary had fallen by the wayside slightly. Once more, she made a note to go back and fix it now. 

The entry was from when she and Luz had to fight for their lives together against a cartoon drawing in a book come to life thanks to the Wailing Star. That entire night had been… To put it in as polite a term as possible, _absolutely freaking crazy_. But it held a weirdly special place in Amity’s heart now that she looked back on it. For all the stress and existential horror and risk of either death or eternal imprisonment - …

…Wow it sounded a lot worse when she put it like that -

It had been the night that she realized she was wrong about Luz. 

...Her heart beat against her chest again. Once more, her hand clawed at it, and gripped at the clothing there, as if that would somehow help. All it took was her even thinking of Luz, and her heart would do this. It almost hurt. 

Many people could say many things about Amity - And they often did, when they thought that she wasn’t listening, or didn’t pay them any attention. She was aware of how a lot of people saw her. Some saw her as an elite. Some saw her as intimidating. Some saw her as rude, or as abrasive… And there was some truth to that. But there was one thing that no one ever accused her of being. 

And that was being an idiot. Because that was the one thing nearly everyone knew was wrong. She wasn’t an idiot. And she knew that too. And she wasn’t stupid enough to act like she didn’t know what was happening here. She was fourteen. She had had people she liked before. 

She _knew_ what a _crush_ was. And she wasn’t dumb enough to deny that that was what this was. She had a crush on Luz. 

_Oh, Gods, did she have a crush on Luz._

What surprised her the most was how… Absolutely... Different, it was this time. How much she… Felt this time. That… Confused her. She had had crushes before, but they weren’t ever this intense. When it became hard to focus on anything else, or how her chest would hurt when she thought about her. Just a few weeks ago, even in spite of these feelings, she could still interact with Luz without any problems, and now over the last couple of days, that was starting to fall by the wayside. Whenever she had had a crush on someone before though, it hadn’t been as bad as it was this time. That was what was confusing her. What was frustrating her. 

This wasn’t the first time - She should have better control over these feelings! That was how it worked, wasn’t it? You got better and better at dealing with them the more times you had them? 

She could have sworn that was what had been happening - Of the few crushes she had had throughout her life, she’d gotten better at dealing with them. But none of them - None of them - Felt anything like this. 

Luz had gotten deep under her skin, without even trying. 

Somehow that made it even more intense. 

And so much more confusing! 

All she could do was be frustrated - Admittedly, it wasn’t like her last crushes were particularly long lasting. Usually not much more than a month or so, before she ended up finding out something about them that absolutely killed her interest. And as much of a shot to her pride as it was to admit, some of them weren’t even on real people, though she’d grown past that. 

Mostly. 

But even then, she had been able to keep her mind together around them. This was another beast entirely. 

How long had this crush lasted? It had to be at least a month, right? 

So why hadn’t she gotten any more used to it? 

Continuing to read though, Amity reminded herself of the night she wrote this all down more and more. She remembered writing it all down, more than she remembered writing down any other entry in this thing. 

_‘I don't know what to make of her. First, she pretended to be an Abomination for Willow, then she acts like we're supposed to be friends that just got off on the wrong foot, then she cheats in our duel, and then she comforts me when I find out what Lilith did to me and after I yelled at her and made her admit she isn't a Witch, and then she did magic in front of me when Humans aren't supposed to be able to do magic - I don't know what to make of her_.’

Some truth still existed in that little paragraph, Amity thought to herself. There were still a dozen things about Luz that she didn’t know what to make of. 

To be blunt - Luz was weird. Really weird. And somehow, Amity was becoming more and more convinced that this had nothing to do with her being a Human - That even by the odd standards Humans had, that Luz was weird. 

She could be an absolutely stupid idiot at times, charging herself into situation over and over again when she had no idea what she was getting into, no plan, no experience with anything on the Boiling Isles, and not even the vaguest idea what she was even going to do in said situation. Heck, in some situations, she didn’t even know what the situation _was_. But she would do it anyway. 

And that was part of why Amity liked her. 

Luz was… Honest. She never seemed to hide… Anything. Certainly never without a good reason - Maybe the only time that she could think of was when she was helping Willow with her Abomination exam, which she had a fairly good reason to do, in hindsight…

...Amity kept reading through her diary, not entirely sure what she expected to find in this particular passage. It was noteworthy to her because she hadn’t been able to write it all in one sitting - She’d had to come back to it twenty minutes later because she couldn’t sleep.

Looking at it, it was obvious where that point was - The quality of her handwriting clearly went down. She remembered writing incredibly quickly, her frustration at not being able to sleep or make sense of everything spurring her on. Lines and lines about how nothing about her made any sort of sense - How she was even able to do Magic, how she was even here, and how she had even met the Owl Lady. Two parts of her entry in particular stood out. 

_‘She's so nice it's almost sickening! I do not understand how - Especially not to, well, me. I've not been in the least pleasant to her at all. It seems like every time we see each other, something goes on between us - I treat her horribly, and then the next day she'll run up and ask me how my days have been like nothing ever happened!’_

The second part, in large, bold letters, which took up most of two pages, when her frustration just became too much for her to take. 

**_‘I DON'T GET HER’_ **

That had been the absolute accumulation of her frustrations that night. It had been when she’d been able to vent everything out of her system. It was where the entry stopped. 

...Maybe of everything, that was still the most true. There was still so much of Luz Amity felt she didn’t understand. But that she wanted to. 

But of everything she didn’t understand…. 

...Why was Luz so nice to her? 

Frankly, Amity wasn’t sure if she deserved it. 

Luz had seen some of the worst of what she’d done - Especially regarding Willow. And yet that hadn’t changed… Anything, it seemed like.

So much had changed since she wrote that entry… And so much hadn’t. Or had it? She didn’t know. She knew more about Luz now, but she…. 

...She wished she knew why Luz made her… _Feel…_ This much. 

Her hand reached out for the box and the photograph. Amity placed them on just atop her diary. The picture was from just a couple of days ago - From Grom. The one where Luz had her arm around her. Amity couldn’t stop herself from smiling at the photo. Grom had been such an… Event, to put it lightly. But it had gone about as well as it could have gone, in all honesty. 

And she got to dance with Luz - Even after she never got the chance to hand her her note. That wonderful, exhilarating dance...

In the box, there was the crown she’d gotten that came with being Grom Queen alongside Luz. 

Somehow, none of this made her heart ache. So how did that work? How did just the mere thought of Luz make her feel like she was having a panic attack, but when she had all of this in front of her, all she could do was smile like an idiot? 

Amity didn’t know. Maybe because it felt more grounded? 

She didn’t know. She sighed again. She - She just didn’t know. She felt so… So out of her depth here. There was just so, so much right now that had her utterly confused. 

It frustrated her. Left her unsure what to do, what to think half the time...

...She didn’t know why she felt like this.

* * *

It ended up being a sleepless night for Amity in the end. Nothing she tried let her sleep, and the thoughts were still swirling around in her head as she tried to process everything. 

None of it worked. 

Having to make do with a few rejuvenation spells - Plural; it was taking more than just one of them to keep her awake - She forced herself through her classes and their surprise test. The lack of sleep made the day feel like it dragged on, and made it harder for her to focus, and she was beyond thankful that she had made the effort to memorize everything from their classes long before this point. It landed her an A. 

Not an A+, but not an A- either. It wasn’t the worst grade she’d ever gotten. If she’d had sleep… Or time to study though, then she knew she could have done better. She cursed her brain. 

Right about now though, she considered herself lucky that she hadn’t run into Luz all day. Right now she was a mess and knew it - She could see people giving her odd looks, though none of them mentioned anything. She couldn’t imagine what the bags under her eyes must have looked like, or how her general sluggishness must have contradicted her normal demeanour. Maybe they assumed it was because of Grom. At the very least, maybe she could preserve that part of her dignity today. 

Normally classes were something that Amity didn’t mind. She knew how to focus and there was always something that she found interesting being talked about - But as tired as she was, it took serious effort to pay attention, and that just made her more and more tired. She couldn’t help but feel her mind wander. 

And of course, her mind wandered to Luz, and wondering which classes she was in now. All she could think of was Grom, and that dance, and that night. It felt like a turning point for her, but she didn’t know how. Or why. 

When the final bell screamed, Amity found she had a few books that she didn’t need for a few days, and that she just couldn’t be bothered to carry with her back home, so she decided to take them and put them in her locker. She was too tired to think to do otherwise. 

It didn’t take her long to get to her locker, and it already seemed to know what she was here for, and opened itself up for her. Amity closed her eyes while she put the books, just for a few seconds where her eyes didn’t feel completely dry as sand. As soon as the books were in her locker, she let out a yawn, unable to stop herself. The minute that she got home, she was going to go straight to sleep, she decided. She needed a rest. 

She turned to leave her locker and head home, and opened her eyes.

And there was Luz, right in front of her. 

“Boo.” 

_“Aaah!”_

A surprised yelp escaped her, and Amity jumped back about a step's worth before she managed to stop herself. Once she registered that it was Luz, she wasn’t sure if her response had been to the sudden appearance of someone in her sight, or if it was the sudden appearance of Luz specifically. Either way, her heart was racing again. 

On the bright side, she wasn’t quite so drowsy anymore. 

“What - ” Amity made herself sigh. Her left hand reached up and rubbed her eyes. Once done there, her hand gripped at her chest. “Luz, what are you doing and why did you just try to give me a heart attack?” 

The exact cause of that near heart attack was up for debate now.

In the brief second Amity had seen her before she’d jumped back, Luz had been leaning against the lockers with what looked like a smug grin on her face - What reason she had to be smug about, Amity didn’t have even the first clue. 

Now though, she had an expression of concern. “Ooh, sorry, Amity!” She said, with that tone in her voice that let Amity know she was sincere. “I didn’t mean to startle you so bad!” 

“What… Exactly were you planning on then?” 

“Just a tiny startle?” 

Again, Amity sighed. 

“Didn’t realize I was so scary.” 

“You’re not.” Amity assured her, shaking her head, very much making an effort to not look or act too awkward. In spite of whatever cool demeanour she was exhibiting, internally her composure had completely melted away already, and her stomach was doing that thing where it felt all fuzzy and warm. “Sorry.” She added for good measure. “I’ve been exhausted all day today.” 

“You’re telling me.” Luz blinked, leaning towards Amity, clearly inspecting the bags underneath her eyes. This time, Amity was certain she hadn’t been able to stop herself from blushing, though Luz didn’t seem to notice, somehow. “I’ve tried to say hi like, three times today.” 

Amity blinked. “Wait, you have?” 

“Mmm-hmm.” Luz nodded, humming. “Or, well, I guess I waved hi once, actually said hi once, and then now, so, thirds time the charm I guess.” 

“When did… This happen?” 

“Just before classes started, and just after lunch. We walked past each other twice and you didn’t say anything. I thought you were upset or something.” 

“No! No… No, not at all.” Amity rubbed her eyes again, and felt at her cheeks and confirmed that yes, she was blushing, and now she was certain that had spread up to her ears. “I’m really sorry, Luz. I haven’t slept since last night. I’ve just been staying awake with Rejuvenation Spells.” 

“Hitting the books, Miss Top-Student?” 

“I wish.” Amity shook her head. “I just had… A lot on my mind.” 

There was a look that Luz gave her that Amity could have sworn she’d never seen from her before. Like that normal energy and peppy attitude she exuded left for a brief moment, and was replaced with nothing but concern. 

“...Was it about Grom?” She asked. Her voice was gentle. It made Amity shiver. The unspoken implication was that it was about her crush and fear of rejection.

“...Yeah.” It wasn’t a lie. Luz just… Didn’t know the full story. 

Mercifully though, she seemed to realize that this wasn’t a topic that Amity wanted to talk about, and displayed a tactfulness that Amity could have sworn she’d never seen from her before. “It was a fun night though, right? Aside from the whole, you know…” She crossed her eyes, stuck out her tongue at the side of her lips, held up her hands, and wriggled her fingers. “...Overwhelming existential horror thing.”

Her expression earned a smile and gentle chuckle out of Amity. “Aside from that, yes, it was. I had a lot of fun.” Another light blush made its way onto her cheeks. “...Thank you, for everything back then. It… Meant more to me than you know.” That wasn’t a lie either. Luz really didn’t know. 

Either way though, it did make the Humans face brighten up. “Of course!” She said, with a smile so wide it reached all across her face. “I had a great time as well!” 

That smile was going to be the death of her, Amity couldn’t help but think as her heart fluttered. “I - I’m glad you did too.” She was getting nervous. She needed an out, quick, or she was going to make herself look like an idiot, she was certain of it. She quickly glanced around, and noticed the lack of Luz’s friends. It was something to hook onto. “U-Um, have Gus and Willow already left?” 

“Hm? Oh, I guess so. I kind of left them cause I wanted to check in on you.” 

“O - Oh.” Well, that backfired. 

“But! You seem like you’re okay, so I guess I was worried over nothing!” Again, the implication of Amity’s unknown crush went unsaid. 

The pair of them started to make their way to the main entrance of Hexside so they could leave the building. They were both headed that way so it was somewhat unavoidable, not that Amity minded all that much. Conceptually, anyway. Her heartbeat was still making keeping this facade of calmness tough. Luz didn’t seem to have any intention on being quiet though, and began to ask Amity about how her day had been. Amity told her, though nothing of especial note had happened. There was her test result though, so she mentioned that. 

It seemed to both surprise and impress Luz. “You’re telling me you got an A on a surprise test you didn’t even study for?” 

“If you count a few days notice as a surprise test…” 

“No wonder you’re like, the top student here.” Luz blinked. The pair of them reached the front doors of the school, and exited the building together. “I wish I was that smart.” 

That same compliment that Amity had heard a thousand times, made her extremely happy hearing it from Luz. Again, she was certain that she was blushing, but she didn’t care to hide it this time. It made her smile. “Y - You’ll get there.” 

“Pssh, naw.” Luz waved her hand in front of her in a single, dismissive motion. “I didn’t do all that great at tests back home, and they didn’t have me need to… Tame a griffon or whatever.. I’ll be happy if I at least pass… Anything like that here.” 

“Weirder things have happened.” Amity noted, simply. “You’re the first Human anyone knows of that can do Magic. Something tells me you’ll end up surprising yourself.” 

Surprising people did seem to be a tendency Luz had in spaces. Amity genuinely had a feeling that if she put her mind to it, Luz wouldn’t have any issues passing any of the tests Hexside threw her way, even in spite of her lacking years of Magical experience, and the disadvantages of her rune style of casting. 

Another smile made itself known on Luz’s lips. She didn’t say anything in response though. 

Instead, she ended up taking a set on the stairway, out of the way of anyone else. It took Amity a couple of steps before she realized that Luz had stopped following her. She turned, with an eyebrow raised. “Erm… What’re you doing?” 

“Oh, Eda said she’d give me a ride back today.” 

“Ah.” A sad pang hit Amity’s chest. She wished her heart would make up its mind if she wanted to get as far away from Luz as was physically possible, or wanted to be around her. At this point, she would settle with that decision being made. 

“You don’t need to wait if you don’t wanna.” Luz said, on top. She still had that damned smile on her face that made Amity feel weak. “I know you said you were tired, so I don’t wanna hold you up.” 

A thoughtful gesture. 

That was just cruel, Amity’s heart told her. It had made up its mind now though. 

Amity herself sighed and smiled gently. “Well, you woke me up with your little stunt back there. I can wait for a while, if you want.” 

“Is this what tired Amity is like?” Luz asked, tilting her head, and adopting a quizzical expression. “Really nice and thoughtful?” 

“Don’t push it, Luz.” 

“There she is.” The Human girl grinned. Something then caught her eye, as she stood up, and looked into the sky. “Oh, I think Eda’s already here.” 

It took about thirty seconds for the pair of them to realize that it wasn’t Eda at all - What it was a tiny owl-looking creature that Luz seemed to recognize once it was within about fifteen meters of the pair of them. It looked like a Palisman to Amity. 

“Owlbert?” Luz questioned aloud, apparently recognizing them. The Palisman flew around her head twice, seemingly greeting the Human, before dropping a note into her hands, and flying off again. Luz read the note quickly, at one point raising an eyebrow, before blinking and letting her arms flop to the side. “So, er, Eda isn’t coming.” 

“Why not?” 

“Something to do with King, the Human world, a bag of fire and I think a stray cat.” 

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...I think a beanie might also be involved.”

“...Do I even want to know?” 

“I’m not entirely sure I do to be honest.” Luz said in the midst of a thousand-yard stare, before she let out an exhale and placed her hands on her hips. “Welp! I guess I’m walking back. Hey! We could walk until we have to split up if you want!” 

Sometimes Amity wondered if the universe just enjoyed playing games with her. It wasn’t like she could say no - What were they going to do? Walk awkwardly fifteen feet apart from one another? 

Still, it wasn’t like she disliked the idea. She nodded. 

Luz smiled back in response. 

Immediately Amity began to question the wisdom of this decision.

* * *

Amity couldn’t help but remember last night as she walked through Bonesborough. She remembered the vision of the town from her space under the Blight Manor Bridge, and wondered if where she was at any given time had been one of the places she’d been able to make an outline of. If the windows that she passed by were ones that had candlelight contributing to the sea of tiny flickering lights that dotted the city-scape during the dusk hours. If any of the people around her were the tiny silhouettes that had had duties to do in the dead of night. 

It turned out that in order to get to the Owl House, Luz had to take a similar direction to Amity through Bonesborough. Some of the same streets, and some of the same passageways. The Owl House wasn’t all that far away from the town anyway, so it wasn’t like it was miles and miles away from just about anywhere in the town.

Occasionally, there was a path that took Luz ever so slightly off course from the Owl House, but she didn’t seem to mind too much. She seemed to just be enjoying wandering through the town. 

And speaking with Amity about the eventful day she’d ended up having. 

“...I have never, in my life, heard of a potion that broke glass - And only glass - before.” 

“Well, it’s a thing now I guess!... Boy am I really glad people know how to magic repair things here. I would have been in… So much trouble back home.” 

Even putting her feelings aside, Luz genuinely was an interesting person to speak to, Amity found. She was the first Human being to attend Hexside, and on top of that, was the first person to ever take all the Magical Tracks that the school had to offer. Her days seemed to be this constantly moving and exciting things that came from all the subjects she had to study - By sheer probability, something interesting was bound to occur to her on any given day.

A perspective of a Human at Hexside, and the perspective of someone who was taking on everything that the school had to offer - That was bound to create someone who had a wide variety of interesting thoughts about their position at Hexside. And it was really interesting to hear about what she had to say. 

Her energy and enthusiasm was infectious. 

The way her eyes lit up whenever she talked about something Magical that she’d seen that day. 

That adorable giddiness that she didn’t even attempt to keep contained. 

Heck, even her uniform reflected all of this - It was such a bizarre mismash of colours that nothing about it made it seem uncharacteristic for her. It suited her in the weirdest way imaginable. 

Plus, it was impossible to deny, she looked cute in it - 

Aaaand Amity needed to put a stop to those thoughts right now. 

“ - Anyway, I’m pretty sure that the walls will be… Mostly fine. Maybe don’t sit too close to them next time you go in there.” 

“...Er, right.” Amity nodded, realizing that she hadn’t heard a word of whatever Luz had just been saying. She also made a mental note to not sit near… Any walls for a while. Just to be on the safe side of… Whatever it was that Luz had ended up doing. 

They both walked past a plaza in the middle of the town. As usual, the area was full of people - Various merchants, performers, and guards to supervise those performers and their use of Magic. A lively economic hub, where all manner of trade was ongoing, as various peoples from every path of life on the Boiling Isles met to engage in mutual exchange of goods and services. Of course, to the trained eye, there were dozens of people seeking to exploit the unaware. Awareness was an absolute necessity throughout the entire Boiling Isles. 

To Amity, it was such a routine sight that it barely was even worth noticing. She would have walked right past it without even glancing at it under normal circumstances. 

But Luz stopped, and just stared at the sight. 

And that smile of wonder once more made itself known. 

Certainly, Luz had seen these sorts of gatherings before. There was no way she had lived in this realm for as long as she had without having seen them. But the expression she had was one that one would expect a traveller to have upon reaching a new settlement. Wide eyed curiosity and imagination. Neither she nor Amity had any money, and they both somehow knew that without exchanging a word. Still though, Luz looked at the sight all the same. 

“...Y’know, I’m so happy that I got to come here.” 

“... To - To this plaza, or - “ 

“I meant here - The Boiling Isles!” Luz quickly clarified. “Everything here is just so weird - I love it here. And there’s just - Just so much Magic! _Es asombroso!_ ” 

“You’re far more into Magic than I thought.” Amity noted, unable to keep herself from smiling. Luz looked like a kid right now, amazed at what was to her, the most innocuous thing in the world. 

“Not just the Magic.” Luz said, turning on her heel to face Amity. “I mean yeah, the Magic is _completely amazing_ , but I’ve met so many cool people here too! Eda, King, Gus, Willow.” Her smile was soft. “And you.” 

Amity felt her heart stop. 

“I’m getting all mushy, sorry.” Luz laughed. “I’m just - I’m really glad I got to meet everyone here.” 

And Amity felt her heart sink. 

“...We should probably keep on going.” She suggested. “I think I see some scammers heading our way.” 

Glancing back at the crowd and the commotion, Luz nodded, and walked alongside Amity once again, a happy skip in her step. 

Amity should have been happy to hear all of that. And she knew that she should have, and that not feeling that way was… Almost even unfair to Luz. Because not a single thing that was now going through the Witch’s mind was even remotely any of Luz’s fault. 

The reality was, it was her own fault. Her own actions. Her own attitudes. Her own words. 

And here they were, biting at her insides once again.

She didn’t… Understand. 

Both of them walked into another passageway. This one was more or less completely deserted. No one was walking through here, and Amity knew it was the merchants residential area - Most of the inhabitants would be back at the plaza, peddling their goods to the general population, or trying to swindle the unaware. 

Suddenly, Amity wished she was far away from Luz. She felt… 

Guilty. And that feeling in and of itself made her feel even more guilty. A continuous cycle.

Luz was now just a bit ahead of her now, and Amity dared to steal a glance at her. Like always, there was the expression of someone who was just happy to be here, and apparently enjoying the company of her companion. It was the latter part that made Amity feel ill. 

For some reason now, all Amity could think about was their adventure into Willows memories. 

How Luz had been there, and seen her trying to destroy the memories in the first place. 

How she had seen the memories Willow had of them. 

How she’d seen what kind of person Amity had been. What she had done. 

The kind of person she was. 

The kind of coward she was. 

The kind of Witch who couldn’t even stand up to her own parents for the sake of her friend. 

How Luz had seen it all. 

How it didn’t end there. 

How throughout the entirety of her time in the Boiling Isles until recently, Amity had treated her like dirt. How she’d pushed her and taunted her and acted like she wasn’t anything but some kind of insect beneath her. 

And hadn’t said a word about either since. But could still claim that she was glad that she knew Amity? 

And could find herself willing to dance with her at Grom? 

And call herself a friend? 

It wasn’t fair for Amity to feel like this after hearing all of what Luz had just said… But she couldn’t stop herself. She just couldn’t. It all weighed so heavily on her mind that it was impossible to completely be rid of it. Back during the incident at the library, Amity told Luz that she would think on the ways that she had acted towards her. And she had done that. She’d done that a lot. 

And concluded that she hated herself for it. Because Luz hadn’t done anything to deserve it. Because it had been her own actions that had spurred Luz to act. 

Taunting Willow. Talking down to her every time they met. 

For the love of the Gods, she’d nearly gotten her killed when she tried to get Willow’s 'Abomination’ dissected! How in the hell could Luz just act like this around her now?! 

What… What right did she even have to feel the way she did about Luz? After everything that she’d done… 

To hear Luz talk about her in such a positive light… It should make her happy. 

Instead all it did was remind her of all the things that she’d done to the Human girl she’d grown so fond of. And when merged with those feelings of guilt… 

...There were questions Amity wanted answers to. Needed answers to. But a big part of her was afraid of the answers. 

It would be easy to say nothing. To just keep on walking, to keep these questions buried in her head...

...But Amity couldn’t do that. 

“Luz, can I… C - Can I ask you something?” 

“Sure! Go for it!” 

“...Why do you treat me the way that you do?” 

The moment they left Amity’s mouth, she regretted saying those words. She wished she could take them back and just keep them buried. But she was committed now. 

Her heart felt like it was in her throat, but she still made herself speak. “I mean… I’ve treated you horribly. You’ve seen how I treated Willow. And - And I treated you so - So badly when you first got here!” 

Luz stopped walking. 

“I - I nearly got you dissected for crying out loud! I nearly burned Willow's entire memory and you had to risk your life because of my screw up! I - I nearly made you give up learning Magic! I - I - I…” A sigh left Amity, and her eyes tumbled looking at the ground. “I don’t understand why you treat me the way that you do. You have… Every reason to hate me, but you’re so… Nice to me, and I don’t… I don’t know why you call me your friend...” 

A brief silence. 

“... I don’t know how you can be remotely glad you met me.” 

Another brief silence. 

And then Luz turned around, and looked at Amity. 

With a seriousness in her expression Amity had never seen on her face before. 

But it was sincere. 

And even with that seriousness in her expression, Luz still smiled. 

“...Because you aren’t like that anymore.”

And Amity didn’t have a response to that. Luz said it like it was so easy, so obvious, so simple a reason...

“Because you’re not a bad person.” 

“Luz, you… You barely know anything about how I acted before you arrived here. You saw what I did to Willow…” 

“And I know it bothers you.”

“How?” 

“Aside from me being there the whole time?” Luz said, jokingly, with a tilted head. She then closed the gap between the two of them, and took Amity’s hands between hers. “Because you just asked me about it.” 

Her words were far more powerful than they had any right to be. And her hands were warm. And that look in her eyes, that didn’t convey any anger or hostility… 

What… Was this feeling that she was stirring in Amity? 

For a minute, Luz looked almost as lost as Amity felt right now, as she tried to find the right words. Amity found that she couldn’t even begin to think about looking away from Luz. She wasn’t blushing though, she was certain of that much, but she didn’t know why. 

Amity knew Luz was fully capable of being serious when she needed to be, but it didn’t feel like this before. There was something more… She didn’t know the word to describe it. Heavy -

No. Heartful. 

“I… Look, I know you’re right and that I don’t know everything about what happened before I showed up here, especially between you and Willow, but… I really don’t think that you’re that person anymore. I don’t think you were ever that person. And you messed up, that’s… Kind of hard to forget to be honest… But everyone deserves a second chance.” _That smile_ again. “And you took it. And you’re better than the way you were before. You changed. You cared enough to change... And that makes me happy I know you.” 

Suddenly, Amity found herself being wrapped into a hug. 

It wasn’t the first hug she’d ever gotten from Luz. She was a very huggy person - And each time it never failed to make Amity feel like her very soul was trying to claw its way out of her body in embarrassment. 

This one felt different though. Distinctly different. 

The usual energy with which Luz pulled people into her hugs wasn’t there - This one felt gentler. More intimate. More intentional. She had pulled Amity into her about as much as she had pulled herself into Amity, and she had her arms wrapped around the Witch. Her head rested on Amity’s shoulder, and Amity’s head rested on Luz’s. Amity’s arms just remained flopped at her side, unsure of what to do with themselves. 

“...And proud that you’re my friend.” 

...Oh. 

_Oh_. 

So that was what this was. 

All the pieces suddenly clicked into place for Amity. Like it all made perfect sense right then and there. It all just came together, like she had just needed that answer for everything in her mind to make sense. Perhaps not even the answer itself, and more the sentiment, the way that Luz framed her point. How she was so open. How she was so genuine. How she was so honest. 

Everything made sense to her suddenly. These feelings, this confusion - They were put into place in that moment. 

This wasn’t a crush. 

Not anymore. 

“...O-Oh…” She breathed as she realized. For a second, she hesitated. 

And then she reached up with her arms, and returned the hug that Luz had given her. She held onto the Human, closely, and took the moment to try to commit the gentle warmth she emitted to memory. She took the opportunity and held Luz as close to her as Luz was holding to her. Her face was burning. The closeness left her breathless. Her heart was beating. And she had her answer. 

She didn’t just have a crush anymore. 

It was more than that. 

She was _in_ _love_ with this girl.

* * *

She had always had a fondness for reading, Amity mused as she flipped over a page in the book she held in her hands. Reading required her full attention. It wasn’t possible to read a book if you weren’t paying attention to it - You had to give it your full focus or you wouldn’t understand what was going on. And if you had a particularly interesting book, that made paying attention to it very easy. 

It helped that reading usually helped her to pick up facts and bits of wisdom from their authors. If it was a non-fiction text she’d learn plenty, and if it was a fictional text, she could lose herself in the world, and pick up the messages of the books through osmosis. Whatever sort of book it was, it made Amity feel like she was learning something, and wasn’t just wasting time. For someone with her competitive streak and desire to be the best, that was an incredibly positive side effect. And there was just a part of her that liked to read for the sake of reading - There were thousands of texts that were just interesting to read on their own merits. 

An invaluable tool to take the mind off of things, provided that you weren’t over-consumed by those thoughts, which Amity had been the previous night. Now she felt more relaxed - At least, in comparison - And could let herself just be lost in words for a while. 

Everything Amity needed to feel at ease and take her mind off of things could be found in the pages of a tome of some sort. It was why she spent so much of her time reading whatever was available. 

How she was able to feel herself be this relaxed after the day she had had was honestly a surprise to her. She’d only gotten home maybe a half hour ago, and she was still absolutely exhausted to be sure, but she had felt compelled to read, in part to clear her head, but in part to just relax after walking back with Luz. 

And yet somehow, she had picked up the one book that would remind her of Luz. Azura. There was something amusing about that fact to Amity. Azura was the one book on the entire Boiling Isles that would directly make Amity think about Luz - It was the one book that she knew Luz had read, and the one that they both enjoyed, and even talked about creating a secret club around. Last night, she hadn’t even needed anything to connect Luz to her mind and she was having a panic attack about the Human. And now? She was just laying on her bed, reading a book. She wasn’t going red in the face. She wasn’t having a panic attack. 

Yet, anyway. Somehow, she had a feeling that those were going to return to her at some point very soon. Bur for right now, she was calm. 

Maybe it was because the question that had been scratching away at her mind for the last forty-eight hours had finally been answered, and she was still just riding the waves off no longer having that question hanging over her. A weight had been lifted from her. Like how it felt when one got angry at a person, and was able to vent about their problems to someone who would listen. It was a similar feeling, at least. 

The issue was Amity understood it was a temporary illumination. Much like how venting about your issues and anger with a person to another was a temporary solution - The anger at the original person was still present. It would still have to be dealt with to actually be rid of the anger and move on from it.

Likewise, Amity was still in love with Luz, and that didn’t go away now that she knew she was in love with Luz. 

_In love with Luz..._

She had to laugh at herself just a bit - She felt kind of ridiculous for not having been able to figure that out in her blind panic. But now all of it had put itself together in her head, it made all the sense in the world. What she felt was way, way too intense to be a crush, but it was the only thing she had a reference to. And now she understood the extent of her feelings, well, that was at least that issue solved. 

When had it transformed from a crush to being in love, she wondered. She wondered if it was before or after Grom. If she had fallen for the Human before Grom and just not realized it, or if it was the event they had been able to spend together that pushed her over the edge. It had certainly been after that that she realized that she was needing to put in actual effort into remaining composed around Luz. She wondered if that was when it evolved into love. She couldn’t tell though. 

And what was it that she loved about Luz? Well… 

Lots of things. 

And it all stemmed from just a few traits of hers, that felt so… Rare to see in the Boiling Isles. 

Authenticity. 

Her heartbeat quickened. Not quite immune to those feelings showing back up then, she supposed. 

....Was being cruel some sort of Human cultural thing?

It was something that Amity couldn’t help but notice whenever she skimmed over her Azura books. It was a theme that she couldn’t help but notice, even after the first time she had ever read them. There was always a villain who had some underlying level of cruelty, even when such cruelty made next to no real sense. 

There was one villain in particular she remembered who had had a plan to take over the kingdom, and burn the capital to the ground - And there were a thousand ways in which that made absolutely no sense and was beyond completely unnecessary, but they were planning on doing it anyway, from what Amity could tell, just for the sake of being cruel. It wasn’t even as if the character in question had had any particular history with the city, or that doing so served some sort of ‘Greater Good’ goal, or even that they were particularly insane. It just seemed like they wanted to do it for the sake of doing it. 

What other possible purpose could such an act even have other than being cruel for the sake of being cruel? But what purpose did that cruelty serve? If it didn’t serve a purpose then what was the point? If it turned out it was the only way to save the kingdom then it would at least have a purpose.

When she was younger, it was a question that confused her the more she really thought about it and how it didn’t make any real sense. All she could think was that the point of the cruelty was the cruelty. That the act in and of itself was axiomatic. 

Such an observation wasn’t limited to just her favourite books either. Occasionally, Hexside would decide that they all needed a lesson on the Human world, a lesson about Humans, and the way that they lived. Why it was important to be careful around them. 

Every single time, there was cruelty abound. 

Humans fought wars constantly, for the most absurd of reasons at times. People fought over the silliest of things. They had these weird concepts about people from different bits of land being different and having to fight over it, and sometimes they even fought among themselves. The things that people did fight for that had a just cause, Amity couldn’t understand why their demands, which were sometimes as simple as having even a moderate control over their own lives, hadn’t been met long, long ago. So many of the systems that they governed their lives by were subpar at best, and exploitative at worst - So it was only a matter of time before people revolted. People suffered for seemingly no reason all the time in the Human world, and Amity didn’t know what possible mentality could make people act this way. 

It wasn’t just Human nature. Luz disproved that. 

Granted, there was still so much about the Human world that she didn’t know, and it was difficult to figure any of it out - Following one thread of their world and culture lead to a thousand other threads being untangled. And none of it made sense to Amity. From what she had learned from Luz, a lot of what she thought she understood was wrong anyway, so maybe she was viewing their world with a very broad brush - In fact, she knew she was. But it didn’t change the fact that no matter what she learned about the Human world, or what she learned about it from Luz, there was cruelty, even in the most subtle of ways. 

Was it just a Human thing to be cruel? 

Another page was flipped over as Amity continued to read. Her thoughts were now starting to fill up with memories and feelings regarding her newfound revelation, and Amity had reached a conclusion of her own. 

Luz was cruel too. 

But Luz wasn’t aware of when she had been cruel. And she was never cruel intentionally. Far from it. Luz was cruel by being so, so kind, and so… Herself, that it made Amity’s heart ache over and over again.

She was _in love with Luz._

When they had separated at last from their hug, and walked until they had no common paths to go down anymore, Amity had listened to Luz talk on and on about basically nothing. The sound of her voice made her heart beat faster though. Everything about her now made her heart beat faster. She acted as if nothing had happened, and Amity couldn’t tell if it was because she realized that hanging onto the topic would have been too awkward for the Witch, or if it was because her mind had wandered not so long after their conversation had wrapped up, in that way that her brain seemed to do. 

But they walked, and Luz both simultaneously acted as though nothing had happened, and with a tact that only someone aware of the situation could act with, and made efforts to make the situation feel less awkward. And Amity could already tell, but tomorrow, Luz wouldn’t say a word about any of this. Not unless Amity did first. And she was thankful for that. 

Once their paths diverged, Amity turned back, and just watched as Luz walked away. Such a simple pleasure made her feel like every nerve ending was alive and screaming at her. 

Two mindsets had evolved from the revelation today. 

The first one was liberation - After everything that she had gone through, had spent days and days trying to figure out, she finally had her answer. She knew why Luz made her feel so much. 

And the second one was the absolute dread of not knowing how to proceed from there. 

But for now she was still calm. Tomorrow, she didn’t know if she would be. 

Tomorrow though, she knew that Luz was going to be as equally oblivious to her then as she had been today. Blissfully so. 

And there was something about that that was just… A weird flavour of unaware cruelty. There was no way Luz could know the effect that she had on Amity. But Amity wondered what her response would be if she did know.

* * *

**I wrote this in like, a week. This is what happens when i get invested in a thing.**

**YEP - We’re Owl Housing this now - I caught up on the series lately and holy Christ it got so much better than I thought it would get. I am so in favour of all of these developments - Every single one of ‘em. This idea got itself stuck into my head and WELP here we are!**

**If you’ve followed my work a while you’ll know that I have a MHA series called Five Words, which I’ve always been proud of, and a She-Ra Fic I wrote recently called Mistakes Made, Mistakes Missed, both of which follow the format I want for this fic - Long chapters, lots of character thought and analysis, small number of chapters, and the likes. Owl House is perfect for this so I’m using this format again! I have many ideas for this one - and a few one-shots I’ll be releasing alongside this, though they won’t be related to this story.**

**Also we’re just gonna have to pretend episode 18 didn’t happen because that episode has kind of screwed my timeline for this fic. I watched it while drunk and high too, so like, that was a mistake and I demand Lumity to soothe the soul SO we’re just gonna pretend that didn’t happen for the purposes of this fic.**

**Updates will come pretty much whenever I finish a chapter but given how much fun I had writing this one I don’t imagine it’ll be too long. This fic has started to mean a lot to me so I’d love for it to do well so I’ll be putting a lot of effort into this one. I hope ya’ll enjoyed! : D**

**[Twitter](https://twitter.com/QuirkQuartz) / [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/quirkquartz) / **

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Company

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amity gets a visitor after breaking her leg at Grudgby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note - If you go back to chapter one, you can see the new Story art that this story uses if you missed it! (It took me like, six hours to outline)

There was a weird contradiction that came with the position Amity had found herself in when it came to her emotional state now. Having figured out the extent of her feelings for Luz, and understanding now just how far deep those feelings ran, she found herself between two different mental states at any given time.

Firstly, the one that made her feel like she had been granted a freedom - Freedom from her uncertainty and constant questioning and doubting her own sanity. The beating of her heart and the way that she felt, all of that now made sense to her. She could contextualize it. Put a word to it.

 _Love_.

And now that she had that, now she could say to herself what was happening to her, and answer some of her own questions. What had felt like an anchor that had tugged at her heart for a while now was now lifted, at least in that regard. Putting a word to it made her feel like she had a better idea of what was going on, gave her an explanation, something she could hold onto in a tossing and turning sea of confusion. It grounded her. Gave her a point of reference.

The second state was more of the same before she understood what was happening to her, only more of it.

All of the awkwardness, the blushing, the wandering mind and the stealing of glances - Those all came right back as soon as she had gotten some sleep, she had predicted that incredibly accurately. Luz was on her mind nearly all the time now, in some way or another. A few days after she realized that she was in love with Luz, she had just finished writing in her diary, and absentmindedly began to doodle on the next page. It wasn't until the drawing was finished that she realized she had sketched out Luz, winking at her. Realizing that ensured that she went to sleep that night completely flustered at herself.

And her composure around her crush was just gone to the winds at this point. Now, whenever Luz spoke to her, Amity found herself running her mouth a lot of the time, panicking and flustered, and talking for far longer than she needed to be talking. She'd never had this much trouble with words or keeping her mouth shut before. In that respect, things had actually gotten worse to a degree.

But, if pressed, if she had to pick between this and how she felt before she knew how she felt, she'd pick this one, hands down. At least she knew what was going on now.

_She was in love with Luz._

Even just thinking that felt otherworldly.

Just like she had predicted though, the next day, and all the days up to now, Luz hadn't said a word about their conversation about why she treated Amity the way she did. Like she knew that Amity wouldn't want to bring it up until she was ready. Amity was grateful for that. It was considerate of her. Kind.

Her words back then though still echoed throughout her mind though.

_'You aren't like that anymore.'_

To be completely honest, Amity hadn't been sure how much she believed that when Luz said it to her. She had _wanted_ to be different than she was when they first met, but she didn't know if she had changed, deep down, or if she was just good at tricking herself into thinking she had. It wouldn't be the first time she had tricked herself into thinking she'd done the right thing.

Abandoning Willow and leaving her thinking that it was because she was weak came to mind. And for a while, Amity had actually managed to trick herself into believing it too, and into believing that she was doing the right thing by taunting her for it, like that would somehow make Willow stronger. She couldn't believe that anymore. She wasn't sure she ever really did. Not really. Not deep down.

She could try to make up for what happened to Willow, to stop other people from picking on her - But that didn't _necessarily_ mean that she had changed deep down. It was easy to do that sort of thing when it risked nothing on her end - What was going to happen, people she didn't even like would like her less? If anything, that was a benefit to her, not a downside. But it left the question hanging.

Would she be able to live by the standard she wanted to? If it came down to it, would she do it again? When push came to shove, would she still do the right thing, even at the cost of her own standing or well-being?

Doubting herself to this degree… Wasn't something that Amity was used to. And it was starting to become more and more common a part of her life these days - And again, she could blame her own erratic heart for that. And if she had been asked a few days ago, and given an honest answer? She would say that she didn't know.

Well, now she had a broken ankle.

And she was starting to believe that maybe Luz was right about her.

And that maybe she had changed. At least a little.

And that Luz was a better judge of character than she thought.

Yesterday had been an… Eventful day, in all honesty. Like every grudgby season since she became the captain of the team, Boscha had decided to throw her weight about and pretty much use the season as an excuse to torment whoever she wanted, and this time, it had been Willow, for… Amity didn't actually have the faintest idea why. As best as she could tell, it was because people were paying attention to Willow more than her for the first time in her entire life? She didn't actually know.

She had made her opposition to Willow's treatment known to Boscha… For all the good that had evidently done.

Naturally, like the good friend that she was, Luz got herself involved in the form of challenging Boscha to a grudgby match, and this was one of those _'She didn't even know what the situation she was throwing herself into was'_ type deals. Amity had spoken to Luz, during which Luz got… Way, way too close to her face. Even thinking about that still made Amity's cheeks go red. The long story short though was Amity had chosen to side with Luz and Willow, and played on their team in the match. Essentially making Boscha all but openly cut ties with her completely.

 _What a shame_ that was.

In the process though, she ended up taking a tackle that had been meant for Luz, and ended up with her ankle broken…

...And getting carried to the Healers Ward by Luz. Which was how she ended up getting her cast. Amity blushed _heavily_ at the memory - Luz was… _Far stronger_ than she looked. Even if she had been exhausted by the time they got to the Healers, the adorable dork.

After having that sorted, she made good on an invitation Luz had offered her to visit the Owl House afterwards. A sort of celebration gathering… Even though they lost the match. It was more like a celebration around getting Boscha to back off of Willow, now that public opinion had turned against her, at least in regards to how she treated other people around this time.

The only word Amity could use to describe how she felt in that situation in the end was 'Comfortable'.

She felt comfortable, for the first time in a while. Around Luz, and around Willow.

Around everyone there, really. Just...

Comfortable.

That had all been yesterday though. Today, she was trapped in her room, waiting for her damned leg to heal.

It was actually _incredibly_ frustrating. Not having the option to just get up and go wherever she wanted to because of her injury. Admittedly, it wasn't like there was a lot stopping her from using her crutches to help get around if she needed to go somewhere desperately, aside from A, the Healers telling her that her leg would heal faster if she moved as little as possible, and B, her own pride not letting her. Granted, Edric and Emira hadn't decided to mock her for breaking her ankle yet - They had a bit more restrained tact than that, at the very least, but give enough it time and an excuse and they would tease her, absolutely, and seeing her struggle to get around might give them that excuse, and she just did not want to deal with that right now. It wasn't like she had a whole lot to do outside her house anyway, but it was the feeling of having the option taken away from her that was getting to Amity.

She sighed, and let her head hit her pillow with the full weight behind it. Then she stared up at the roof, her mind drifting back, replaying the grudgby match in her mind.

If she could go back, would she do anything differently? That thought didn't even last a couple of seconds.

Nope. Not at all. She wouldn't change a thing. Maybe she'd try to engineer a situation where she wouldn't end up with a broken leg, but she didn't regret anything. She stood by everything that she'd done back then, and would do it again in a heartbeat. Just thinking about it was a result of her frustration at her mobility situation.

More than anything, she missed that feeling of comfort.

Another sigh. She reached for the closest book to her that she could reach, and flipped it open. She needed something to distract her from the fact she was practically trapped in here and from her own thoughts. A book would help, and there were a few that she had been meaning to read anyway. The book she ended up grabbing was a fictional text. _'The Far Side of the Far Realm_ '. That'd do.

For the next while, that was how she remained, reading through the text. It was a bit like The Good Witch Azura in a sense, at least in the genre it was in - Adventure, fantasy and the likes. It was a bit drier. Harder to read. She kept having to re-read paragraphs and pages, realizing she hadn't absorbed any of the information on them, and just sort of glazed past them, until she focused and realized she didn't have any idea what was going on, and had to go back. Amity couldn't tell if that was because it was written worse, or if it was because everything on her mind was making it harder for her to focus.

The latter was starting to feel like the more likely one though.

To feel like she had actually proven that she was serious about fixing things with Willow, felt like she had started to actually be accepted by Luz's friends, and to understand how her feelings towards Luz had evolved, only to then end up like this.

It was stuck in her mind. That feeling of belonging. That feeling Luz sparked in her. A stupid smile spread over Amity's face as she thought about both those feelings, and of the Human who inspired them. Her face felt red, but now that she knew it was because she was in love, it didn't inspire panic in her. It inspired happiness.

Luz made her want to fix things with Willow. Not just because Luz wanted her to, but because she made Amity want to for her own sake as well as Willow's. That was the sort of feeling that Luz could spark in her.

Yet another sigh escaped her. She wished she could see Luz...

She'd be out of here in a few days… Maybe she could ask her if she wanted to… Do something? They still hadn't actually set up that Azura Club… Thing that they talked about. Maybe that could be something they did?

If Luz had actually been serious.

Had Luz been serious? It was getting harder to tell.

"Mittens!"

Oh _, great_.

Amity peeked over the top of her book - Careful to make sure the book hid the red on her cheeks - to see her door opening up and Emira and Edric standing in the door-frame, the pair of them looking particularly smug.

Now what did they want? "What?" Amity asked, right eyebrow raised. Experience had taught her to always be suspicious whenever her siblings wanted her for basically anything. One too many pranks had left her cautious of them.

"You taking visitors?" Emira asked.

"Not from either of you." Between the broken ankle and the blush on her face, the last thing she needed right now was the two of them pestering her while she was like this. She'd rather just be left on her own with her thoughts and her book.

"Ouch." Edric dramatically placed a hand over his chest, as though he'd been wounded by the words. "That was ice cold." He didn't seem to be actually upset though. He actually smirked.

Emira smirked at Edric's over dramatic reaction before she turned to Amity with her arms folded. "You're in luck then Mittens, it's not either of us. One of your friends is here." She then took a step back, winked as she made a gesture with her head to someone on the other wide of the wall, and gestured with her hand to head into the room, apparently deciding Amity didn't need to give any sort of permission.

Not that she wouldn't have when she saw who it was.

"Amity!" Luz's head poked out from behind the door-frame before she made her into the room proper. She had that same big, amazing smile on her face again.

"L-Luz?!" Amity immediately sat herself upright, and felt her cheeks start to heat up and redden more.

Just thirty seconds ago, Amity had wished she could see Luz. And now, she was here. At this point, she was half convinced that the universe really was just messing with her.

"Heya!" Luz cheerfully made her way to Amity's side, that bright smile still on her lips. "How're you doing? You feeling any better?"

 _"Better now you're here._ " Amity muttered, without thinking. It took her a half second to realize what exactly she had just said, go completely red in the face, and very quickly try to backtrack on that. "T-That you helped me get here! A-After the injury I mean! A-And -" This train of thought was not helping her composure, she realized halfway through it. She was going to need to work on watching what she said when Luz was around. " A-And c-carried me to the er…. Healers… Ward. Y-Yep! Much better after… That."

Quickly she decided not talking was the better option now.

In fairness to herself though, it wasn't just her adoration of Luz that made things better now she was here. To be frank, she had been bored out of her mind. That 'Far Reaches of the Far Realm' book hadn't done her any favours, dry as it was. Someone to actually speak to was almost like a gift.

Somehow Luz didn't notice any of that. Instead, she just smiled, and reached into her bag, and from within it, she pulled out a series of folded up papers, which she presented, arms outstretched, to Amity. "Ta-da! Here!"

Careful with her words now, Amity spoke. "What… Is this?"

"Notes! From Abomination Class!" Luz answered, beaming. "The teacher asked someone to take notes for you and I told them I'd do it! I thought you wouldn't like being behind everyone soooo…."

The Witch blushed, and couldn't keep herself from smiling dumbly. It was such a simple gesture but it was enough to make her feel overwhelmingly happy. She took the notes and quickly glanced them over - Luz's handwriting was a bit tricky to read, but it was still legible - And more detailed than Amity would have expected from her. Plus, she had done little doodles on the side of the pages, including one where she was sure that it was both her and the Human dressed up like Azura and Hecate. Particularly after they allied together after the fifth book, which she'd let Amity borrow not too long ago.

Gods, this girl was _too cute._ Amity's smile just kept growing.

"Th… Thank you." She said, careful not to let her voice shake.

Luz just smiled back at her. "Anytime!"

Letting herself look away from Luz for a moment, Amity realized that she hadn't actually made any effort whatsoever to get rid of Emira and Edric, and that they were, in fact, still watching this entire exchange take place.

When she looked, Amity saw the pair of them with _insufferably smug_ smirks on their faces, and were looking towards one another, before meeting their younger siblings' eyes. Somehow, they looked even smugger when their eyes met. Her blush turned from one of fluster to one of embarrassment.

Immediately, Amity drew a Magic Circle in the air, conjuring up a magical hand behind the door to push it shut.

"Don't do anything that I wouldn't - " Edric yelled before the door was slammed in his face. Once the door was shut, the hand faded back into nothingness. Amity sighed.

"Sorry about them." She apologized, still feeling her cheeks burning at the fact that they'd seen all of that. "I hope they weren't a bother before they brought you up here."

"Pfft, naw!" Luz wafted her hand, still smiling and oblivious to Amity's red face, and at what Edric had been implying. "I like Edric and Emira! They're fun, and nice!" A pause. "Mostly, I mean." She added, remembering the whole diary fiasco. "They were super nice when I showed up and brought me here!"

"That - That's good…"

For a moment, Luz blinked, and then took a look around. It seemed like it occurred to both her and Amity at the same time that this was the first time that she'd ever been in Amity's house, never-mind her room. The Witch felt her heartbeat increase at that realization. This was where all her personal belongings were - It was impossible not to feel like she was being wordlessly judged.

"So, this is casa de la Amity, huh?" The Human girl said aloud, glancing around and taking note of everything. Suddenly Amity felt very self conscious about the state of her room and what exactly she had in the room, hung up on the walls, scattered on her desk, or what she had lined up on her bookcase. "Wow, you have... A lot of books, don't you?" Luz observed at the same time.

"I - I like reading." Amity said, almost like it was an excuse. It came across as more defensive than she had intended.

"Yeah, I knew that. I do too. I just didn't expect there to be… So _many_ books here." Luz explained, glancing at a pile of books Amity kept at the side of the bookshelf, since the shelf couldn't hold any more books. "I guess I just sorta assumed you kept most of them in your secret room in the library." Her face brightened up more as she looked around. "Your room's cool though! It's very… Amity, I guess?"

"S - Sorry it's... Sort of a mess. I didn't expect anyone to show up today..."

"What, did you think I wasn't gonna come visit you anyway?"

This time, Amity felt her heart skip a beat. "I - I… I - I wasn't - I didn't think so. I thought you'd be busy with classes and the Owl Lady…"

The smile Luz had turned more gentle. "I was gonna find time to come visit you no matter what." She informed the now red-faced bed-ridden girl. "I remember getting all lonely when I broke my arm and had to stay in hospital overnight. I thought you could use a bit of company!"

How one person was as thoughtful as Luz was truly was beyond Amity at this point.

"...Unless you were resting and I'm… Stopping that." Luz blinked, apparently for the first time realizing that she might have been interrupting Amity. "Or you're…. Not happy about someone seeing your room while it's…" She glanced around the room again, and raised an eyebrow. "...A mess?" That final part was more a question than anything, like she didn't believe it. "I'd hate to see what you call clean." She added. "Er… Am I -"

"Y - You're not!" Amity quickly assured her, speaking quickly as she did, eager to reassure the other girl. "I- It's fine, really! I…" She quieted down slightly, and diverted her eyes from Luz. A small smile made its way onto her lips. "...I'm really glad you came."

That was the truth of the matter as well. Amity was happy Luz was here, even if it was doing a number on her heart. Just because she had been able to contextualize her feelings towards Luz didn't mean that they were any easier to handle in the heat of the moment. For some reason, Amity doubted that she was ever going to get used to the way that Luz made her feel.

Of course, there was more to it than that. Aside from relieving the boredom of being stuck in her room on her own, with nothing but a book she was struggling to focus on for entertainment, hearing that Luz had planned on visiting her anyway was something that made the young Witch incredibly happy. It made her feel like she mattered to Luz.

That was another feeling she never felt like she got around the rest of her other group of former 'friends'.

It was the feeling that she was wanted. That they didn't just hang out together because it was wordlessly assumed that they were supposed to, because their parents expected that to be the case, but because they wanted to. Because they actually liked each other. That connection had never been there, especially not for Amity.

But when it came to Luz, Amity wanted to be around her, and felt like she was wanted too. And that made her feel…

...Like she mattered. Not as a point of prestige, not as some sort of social prize, but because the people around her gave a damn about her _for_ her. And that was something that every so often, Amity had felt she lacked. But she hadn't known any better though. No other point of reference.

She never felt that way when it came to Luz. There was never an ulterior motive when it came to Luz. No expectations. No hidden agenda. She would hang around with whoever she wanted because she cared about that person. And for who knew what reason, she had decided that one of those people was Amity. And that in turn made her want to be around Luz.

Now she did have that point of reference.

Just one more of the list of reasons why she had ended up in love with her.

Luz relaxed, and her usually peppy self came back. "You want me to stay a while?"

"I…. I think I'd like that."

"Great!" Luz grinned, returning her hand into her bag, with a grin spreading across her face. "I've got an idea!"

* * *

"I'm not hurting you or anything am I?"

"No! No! Not - Not at all!" If anything, she was doing the exact opposite right now.

Luz stopped… Whatever it was that she was doing with the cast, and looked up at Amity, like she was making sure that she was being honest. Apparently sensing no deception - There was none - the Human beamed. Whatever pain there might have been was overwhelmed by the feeling that smile filled Amity with. Like it was an active pain suppressor. "Try and stay still, alright? Won't be much longer now!"

This had to be a Human thing.

Or a Luz thing.

Maybe it was just a Luz thing? It certainly seemed odd enough that it could just be a Luz thing. Unless the entire Human Realm was just this utterly weird. She wasn't exactly sure what the odds were on that one though.

Over the course of the last ten minutes, Luz had set up a little, for lack of a better term, workplace at the foot of Amity's, well, feet, with her cast-covered foot being rested on her lap - A fact that did absolutely nothing to assist Amity's rapidly increasing heart rate. The close proximity of the two of them, and the fact that Luz had one of her limbs on her lap was making Amity's composure really, _really_ fight to remain in control. Luz was so careful, and so gentle so as to not hurt Amity in any way, that the fact her foot was covered in cast didn't do anything to stop it from feeling like it was being electrocuted every time Luz's hands touched the cast. Occasionally, her hands would place themselves on the not-covered-up-with-a-cast part of her leg that the Witch felt her entire limb stiffen up, and her heart thud.

Amity couldn't help but stare.

Outside of that though, Amity didn't have a _literal clue_ what Luz was doing. She made very deliberate efforts to hide what was going on with either her head or her arms, so the Witch wouldn't be able to see what was happening to her cast.

She couldn't tell if this was a thing all Humans did, or if this was just a particular oddity of Luz.

Given that this was Luz, she wasn't ruling out the latter possibility.

"I… Still don't know if I understand what you're doing." She said absently, fishing for information.

"You'll see! No peeking!"

"I - I'm not." It wasn't the cast she was looking at anyway. "This - This isn't going to, I don't know, make the cast more loose or anything like that? I - I would like my leg to heal as soon as it can."

"It'll be fine, I promise!" Luz said, cheerfully. Perhaps against her better judgement, Amity couldn't help but trust her. "You know," Still focused on her activity, Luz absently spoke again. "It just hit me - Couldn't the Healers just," She wiggled her fingers generally towards Amity's cast, making a small humming sound, "Magic your ankle back together?"

"It… Doesn't work that way." Amity explained, trying to keep her voice steady. "Well… It - It can vary a lot. It's not like fixing an object like glass. Healing Magic can speed up the recovery process, but it can't always fix major injuries instantly. Only the best Healers can fix up an injury in no time, and a lot of them are in the Emperor's Coven. And if you heal it the wrong way, it can cause you more issues down the line. Sometimes Healers that try to heal something like a broken bone on the spot end up having to break the bone again so they can set it properly, or fix whatever went wrong, so it can be dangerous too."

"Ouch." Luz shuddered at that description. "I thought maybe Magic'd let you just pass over the whole waiting in bed thing. Mamá said she had to do things like that a few times. Suena dolorosa."

"Your… What?"

"My mom." Luz clarified. "She's a nurse. It's kinda like being a Healer on Earth."

Before Amity could question what the heck Humans needed a healer for dirt for, Luz shot straight onto her feet, and threw her hands into a gesture that pointed towards a presentation.

"Aaaaaand done!"

Amity wasn't _entirely certain_ what she was looking at.

Using some sort of marker pen, Luz had gone right ahead and drawn a collection of images on the cast - A grudgby ball, and three heads that looked like her, Luz, and Willow, all with their hands in the air in what looked like celebration. A smaller version of Gus was in the background, with his flags held high. Above the three of them, the words 'Winners in spirit (Because this game makes no sense)' had been written. Above that, Luz had written her name in large, bright yellow, and next to that, a little drawing of her face holding up a peace sign with her index and middle finger. A little speech bubble came from the face, saying 'Get well soon'.

None of any of this was especially detailed - They were loose, cartoonish, stylized outlines that were just detailed enough that it was obvious who each of the faces were, and what they were doing, but were otherwise incredibly simple. They were actually sort of cute, but...

...What this collection of drawings _were_ , Amity didn't have the first clue.

"What d'you think?" Luz asked, with a grin that just screamed that she was proud of her little mural.

But Amity wasn't entirely certain how to react to it. It was such an… Odd thing for her to be looking at, she couldn't be completely sure what it even was. Or why Luz had felt the need to do it in the first place. But she seemed like she was awaiting a response.

"It… I-It's cute… I guess?" She offered.

"...You don't like it?"

"It's not that, it's more… What… Is it?"

"I thought I was a better drawer than that." Luz blinked, and started to point at each of the heads. "It's you, me, and Willow - "

"No, no, I get that." Amity quickly clarified. She wasn't trying to insult Luz's drawing abilities - She had seen them before and she was actually decent at it. "Y - Your art is fine. You're a good drawer. I - I mean… Why did you draw it on my cast?" She was tripping over her words again, but this time it was more out of sheer confusion.

"... Is - Is that not a thing here?" The look of confusion on Luz's face was probably the most absolute emotion that Amity has seen since Grom. Somewhere between utter bewilderment and borderline horror at the revelation.

"No?" Amity blinked back at Luz. "Is... This a thing all people do in the Human world?"

"Yeah! People do this all over the world! It's like, a thing you're supposed to do! I thought you - " Suddenly stopping her sentence, the Human girl seemed to put something together in her head, and snapped her fingers at the revelation. " _Ooooooh_ , I get it! Drawing on a cast is supposed to be like, a way to let people know you're thinking of them and hope that they're getting better where I'm from - You have Healing Magic here, so you don't have to wear these things for a super long time, so drawing on them never became a big thing!"

That… Actually made sense, Amity supposed. Since the Human Realm didn't have Magic, there were bound to be a few major cultural differences between them and this world. Certain things that were easy to Boiling Isles residents would be difficult for Humans because of the difference in magical ability - Luz not counted, of course.

"So, do you have to wear them for a long time in the Human world?" Amity asked, now curious.

"Depends on how bad it is. Sometimes people have to wear them for months."

"Months?!" She gawked, wide eyed, and jolting slightly forward. "Are you serious?!"

"Oh yeah!" Luz nodded her head up and down quickly, as though that would prove she were being honest, and held up her left arm to point at. "Remember I said I broke my arm? I had to wear a cast for it for like, six weeks afterward!"

Amity was stunned, to put it lightly. Weeks in a cast? She had thought a few days sounded like agony - The idea of being like this for weeks at a time sent almost a primal shiver down her spine. "What the - How do you get anything done? Why does it take so long?!"

"We don't have Magic on Earth, remember?" Again with the earth comment. "We don't have… I dunno, bone healing juice or anything like that."

"Do you think we do?" Amity raised an eyebrow, confused. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Huh?"

"Earth! You keep talking about not having any magic on earth! Do you think our Magic comes from dirt or something?"

"Wait - No! No - Earth is the world I'm from! The Human Realm! Humans call it Earth!"

"...You named your own Realm after dirt?"

"Yep. Well, the planet, actually."

"...Who did that and why?"

"... I… Actually have… Absolutely no idea."

For a second, the two of them just sat in silence, blink as they absorbed the new information after that particular ring of confusion. That at least explained the 'Healer of Dirt' thing she had assumed Luz's mother did, Amity supposed. She had assumed that when Luz talked earth, she had been speaking literally, not about the Human world. That and the cast writing-and-drawing thing wasn't a Luz thing, but was a thing all Humans tended to do? It really had been a ring of confusion - The last point especially. That was… Certainly a strange concept for her.

How the heck had _that_ even come about? What kind of cultural developments had gone on over there that _this_ was just a thing Humans did? What was the _logic_ there? Who exactly had seen someone in a cast, and decided that the best thing to do was to write them a little message on it?

Openly spoken about like this, it was starting to fully dawn on Amity just how vastly different the worlds they came from were.

"...So, what do you call this world?" Luz asked, her eyebrows raised up in curiosity. "Do you have like, another word for this place, or is it all just the Boiling Isles?"

"Hm? Oh, we call the Realm Fasia."

"Fasia…" She repeated, like she was trying to get used to the word and how it sounded. A small giggle then escaped from her as her face lit up into a smile again. "¡Que interesante! I keep learning a bunch of cool stuff about this place! I've been so focused on Magic that I didn't think about the rest of this world! I need to go to the library and just read, like…. Everything!"

Again, Amity was reminded how little Luz seemed to ask of both the world and of everyone around her. Just being here, learning how to do Magic and everything there was to learn about the Boiling Isles was enough for her. It was so, so refreshing to be around someone who was just this… Happy about the chance that they had been given. It reminded her that Luz didn't hide anything - That she really was this enraptured by the Boiling Isles and by Magic.

But she had to admit - There were things that she herself was curious about too when it came to the Human world. And about Luz.

Would it hurt to ask?

"...Um, Luz, do you mind if I ask you something about the Human World?"

"Go ahead! Ask me anything!"

"...What's that dialect you keep talking in?" It had been a question Amity had been wondering for a while now. "I understand you when you're talking like... This, but you sometimes say something in that other dialect and I'm not sure what anything you say in it means… Or why you talk in it."

For a moment, Luz looked at Amity with a look of complete confusion, and for a second, Amity thought that she might have actually offended her, and was about to apologize and tell her to forget that she ever asked.

"Oh!" She suddenly said aloud. "¿Te refieres a esto? That?"

Amity nodded. "Right, that."

"Aaah!" Luz nodded, seeming to finally understand what was being talked about "That's not a dialect - That's Spanish! It's another language back on Earth that I can speak!"

"...Why did you need to speak two languages back home?" Amity asked, puzzled. "Is it like, a heritage language or something? Don't you have a universal language so you can all understand each other?"

"...Man, that sounds cool." Luz pondered, before shaking her head. "But no. There's a ton of languages on Earth, and not everyone speaks the same language. We need translators and technology to help us understand one another sometimes."

"That's… Bizarre. We have a few languages here, but we have a universal language that just about everyone understands and uses. And sometimes some areas have heritage languages they speak among themselves, but that's about it. No one I know switches between them like you do. That's why I thought it was a dialect from the Human Realm."

"I just learned it because Mamá speaks it, and we use both at home. It's just a habit, I guess, I don't really think about it." Luz then scratched at the back of her head, and laughed gently. "Sorry about that - I'm not saying anything nasty about you, promise!"

"I - I believe you." Amity smiled. She'd never gotten that impression when Luz spoke in that language. " It… It's a nice sounding language." She added on, awkwardly attempting to compliment the other girl. Not that it was an empty compliment either - It was a genuinely nice sounding lexicon.

"Thanks! You know it's called a romance language back on Earth?"

 _Alright_ , she had decided. The universe really did just enjoy messing with her - There was no other explanation at this point, Amity concluded as the most sudden and red-hot blush hit her cheeks so hard it almost felt like she'd been slapped, and diverted her eyes away from her crush as quickly as she could manage. Even her ears felt like they were burning. "O - O - Oh? I - It i - is?"

"Yeah…. Not sure why it's called that though. Earth is weird."

It really did seem that way to Amity, the more she learned about the Human Realm. And the way that Luz described it, the more Amity began to realize that even the most basic fundamentals of her understanding of their society was completely misconstrued, lacking, and limited. She always knew that her understanding was limited, but it turned out that in reality, she knew even less about the Human Realm than she thought she did.

And a part of that made her feel almost... Distant from Luz.

Amity struggled to explain it properly, even to herself - But it felt like there was a barrier between her and Luz that would be there for as long as this gap in her knowledge existed. Luz was here, and she could speak to her, but she didn't have any way to relate to Luz beyond what they said to one another. And that was fine too - That had been all it had taken to get her to feel the way she did now…

...Did it make sense? She wasn't sure, but...

...She wanted to know more about Luz. She wanted to understand her more. Understand what her life was like back home. Everything Luz was willing to share with her…

...That was what she wanted to know.

"...C… Can you…" She bit the inside of her lip. "...Teach me about it?"

At that question, Luz's eyes seemed to widen slightly, her right eyebrow quirked upward, her chin tucked in and head tilted. "What, Spanish?"

"No - W - Well, maybe?" Amity shook her head. "I… I meant more about the Human Realm - About Earth." Her index fingers pressed against one another, and she forced herself to look towards Luz's eyes, in spite of her fluster making it difficult. "I… Want to know about where you're from."

For a few seconds, Luz's face was incredibly difficult to read. Amity could only identify a few emotions - The most obvious two being confusion and surprise.

Amity could have sworn that for a split second, she also saw a slight blush.

Her eyes sparkled, and then her face erupted into outward emotion - Eagerness, excitement, energy - Everything that Amity had come to associate with Luz made itself known on her expression, with a grin that reached ear to ear.

This time, Amity's heart skipped several beats.

Oblivious to that though, Luz just kept on smiling, and asked, "What d'you wanna know?"

* * *

What ended up striking Amity the most was how overwhelmingly complicated Human society seemed to be.

It wasn't like Luz was some kind of sociologist or anthropologist, and the pair of them both understood that well enough - It wasn't like Amity would be able to explain all the incredibly nuanced and complicated aspects and histories of the Boiling Isles either. Luz could only explain the Human Realm in generalities. A very broad overview of Human culture.

But even from that alone, it was clear to Amity that the Human Realm was a densely complicated mess of a world to navigate. Luz tried her best though, explaining to Amity various aspects of her home Realm - She explained the landmass of the world, and how it was divided up into distinct landmasses called continents, and how each of those continents had a series of smaller regions within them that people lived in, called countries. She talked about giant boats that could take people between these landmasses, and giant machines that were able to somehow fly across the seas without the use of Magic. And she explained how people got by without the use of said Magic.

All of it sounded absolutely fantastical and completely ludicrous - But not once did Amity doubt the sincerity with which Luz spoke. Though that didn't make it any less difficult for her to imagine it all in her head.

Each thread though, when pulled, dragged them down a whole other path full of its own complicated nuances that Luz didn't even know. Like the flying machines thing for example - In spite of claiming that such a machine could ever exist without the use of Magic, Luz said she didn't have any idea how the mechanics of such a contraption worked, but still apparently trusted them enough to be suspended in the air in such a machine. To Amity, that was like not trusting in your own ability to fly on a staff, but doing so while also carrying other people - Though for some reason she got the feeling that Luz at least would make the attempt.

She was honest about not knowing how those machines worked as well - She didn't even pretend to understand certain things about her own world, like it was a commonly understood fact among Humans that there was no one that knew every aspect of their world, and she felt no shame at all in her lack of perfect information. A part of her almost seemed to relish in it.

Instead, when it came to the specifics, she just explained how her own life was back in the Human Realm, and worked from there. Like how a Human school worked, what they taught, and what she learned. It was actually fairly similar to how Hexside operated - Just without Magic. And she would talk about the things they taught. Things like maths, languages, and history.

As she spoke about this aspect of Humanity, Amity just sat in silence and just listened to her explain things, paying close attention to her as she spoke. And the more she listened, the more she learned, and felt the gaps in her knowledge becoming less and less great and insurmountable - At least when it came to understanding the day-to-day life Luz would have back home. The insane complications of the world made the Witch wonder if she would ever fully understand their world.

It helped that just listening to Luz talk was something Amity was perfectly happy to do anyway. The way she spoke, always with that eagerness and energy that was so patently Luz.

And her voice felt… Warm. Something that Amity wasn't at all used to. It was hard to explain, but there was almost something soothing about it. Just the sound of it made her happy. Just on it's own. And combined with the energy she always spoke with made the prospect of listening to her talk about basically anything something Amity wouldn't oppose.

That and the fact that when she talked about things like this, and got really into it, she was adorable as anything.

_There really wasn't a part of this girl she hadn't fallen for, was there?_

"Oh - Oh wow, I have - I have been here a _while._ "

Amity blinked, and realized Luz was looking at… Her phone, if she remembered the name correctly - Whatever it was called, it was similar to a Scroll, only it didn't use Magic. Luz took a sharp intake as she looked at it. "What, what's wrong?" Amity asked.

"I've been here er… About three hours longer than I planned on being."

"Three -" Quickly, Amity glanced around for her Scroll. It was on the table next to her bed. She grabbed it and rolled it open, and to her surprise, it was true - Just about three hours had passed since Luz arrived.

Exactly three hour and twenty-three minutes, actually, and that had just… Flown right by. Amity had thought that she'd been here for an hour, tops.

"I gotta go." Luz announced, already on her feet. "Eda and King're probably wondering where I am by now - I didn't tell them I was gonna come over here before I went back to the Owl House… Probably a mistake in hindsight."

"Oh…" It hadn't been intentional, but Amity couldn't stop herself from letting out a small, disappointed noise. Obviously Luz would have needed to go eventually, but that didn't stop the pangs of sadness from hitting her. She hoped Luz didn't hear her.

"Sorry." No such luck, it turned out. Luz was looking at her with an expression that conveyed a degree of guilt, even though she had nothing to feel guilty for. "I didn't think I'd end up staying here as long as I did. I woulda let Eda know if I knew, but I don't want her to like, go crazy worrying about me… And King is probably tearing up the place by now."

"I'm sorry…" Amity apologized, feeling guilty herself for making Luz feel guilty.

"You don't need to be. I get it."

 _She really, really didn't,_ Amity thought to herself.

...Would it be selfish to ask?...

"... A… Are you going to come again tomorrow?" She had ended up asking before she had even answered her own internal question.

Luz looked at her, and Amity found it difficult to read her expression. "Do you want me to?"

_Oh, that was a cruel question to ask._

Red spread all over Amity's face again. Quickly, she tried to think up a way to say that yes, she would love for Luz to come again, without sounding weird. "I… I enjoyed learning about your world." She glanced away from Luz. It made speaking a bit easier. "And… The company…"

Mercifully, that seemed to be good enough for Luz. Her expression lit up again with her smile. "I'll let Eda know I'm coming here tomorrow! I'll take notes for you again too!"`

A stupid grin made its way onto Amity's face, and she made herself look to Luz. "Thank you."

"Oooh, actually!" Luz snapped her fingers again, and her grin got even wider. She reached into her pocket and pulled her device out. "I have an idea! I could add you on my phone - " A phone, it was called. She had been right. Amity made a note to be sure to remember that. " - and that shooould… Erm…." Luz blinked, and sort of froze on the spot. "Do er, do Scrolls have like, numbers, or…?"

"Numbers?" Amity asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, so we can like, chat and text and stuff!"

"Y - You mean my Scroll Rune?"

"Er, if that's what lets us contact each other, yeah, sure, that!" Luz nodded. "We could message each other while I'm not here! We could even talk while I'm between classes!"

"...Can your phone even call Scrolls?"

"Er…. I haven't tried, actually. I have no idea."

"Let me see it."

For the next few minutes, Amity held the odd Human device in her hand, and attempted to figure out if the thing would be compatible with her Scroll. The two were completely different things, though they shared a similar function. Amity didn't have a clue how the 'phone' worked, or how it displayed any of the images that were on it without Magic - And it seemed that without Magic, the phone wasn't going to be able to register her Scroll's Rune. The two worked in different ways with different systems. It simply wasn't going to happen. Not without someone who knew what they were doing with them both.

"I could ask Eda to look at it when I get back." Luz suggested. "Maybe she'll know what to do. If worst comes to it, we can just use crystal balls, right? I do that with Willow and Gus." She paused. "Might be a bit hard to do that at school though."

Amity nodded. That was probably the best they were going to do right now. "You're going to need my Rune. Have you got anything I can write on?"

"Uh huh!" Reaching into her bag, Luz pulled out a notebook. Amity couldn't help but notice the cover was covered in both stickers and doodles that looked to be in Luz's art-style. There was a pen that was slotted into the binder too. Luz extended it towards her. "I use this to prepare my Glyphs. Here, go for it!"

Quickly, Amity opened up to a clean page, and scribbled down her Scroll's Rune, before she handed it back to Luz. "Just add that if Eda is able to make your phone compatible with Scrolls. That should connect you to me."

"Got it!" The Human girl took a brief look at the Rune, before she closed the notebook and put it back with the rest of her things as she collected her belongings from her little workspace on the bed. "I… Really gotta go now though. I'll see you tomorrow though!"

"I'm… Looking forward to it." Amity smiled. "Oh… And Luz?"

"Yep?"

"Thank you. For today… And for these." She nodded back towards the drawings that Luz had doodled onto her cast. It occurred to her that she hadn't actually thanked Luz for them, now that she understood what they were, and what they meant. "Th - They're cute. Thank you."

That put a smile onto Luz's face again. "I'll draw some more tomorrow! You won't even wanna take it off by the time I'm done!"

"Part of me doubts that."

"You won't be doubting it tomorrow!" Luz cheerfully informed her, now out of the door-frame and into the corridor that would take her to the front door. "Bye Amity! See you soon!"

Amity waved as Luz finally left her sight. Once she was gone, the Witch let out a long sigh, and laid back down. She couldn't get the smile off her face, and she wouldn't be able to no matter how hard she tried - Which ended up being very little.

The time had flown by since Luz had arrived, and she now could look forward to seeing her crush tomorrow as well. Luz had her Scroll Rune, and if Eda could make her phone compatible with Scrolls, it would mean that they could speak whenever they wanted to.

And the fact that it was Luz that had been the one to suggest that… That made Amity unbelievably happy.

Being stuck here now didn't feel like she was just watching a timer run down.

She remembered an entry in her diary again. An earlier one. It was one that she was fairly sure Luz had heard back during the night of the Wailing Star. Where she talked about not being able to show weakness.

Well, for the last few hours, that had been more or less everything that she'd done with Luz. Being like this, in this state , trying to stop herself from blushing like a fool - That was probably the most open, the most weak she'd been able to be with a person in… Years.

With Luz though, it didn't feel like a weakness. It felt natural. It felt like honesty. And with Luz, she was more than okay with being honest.

And maybe one day, she'd be able to be completely honest with her.

Maybe.

She hoped.

More than anything else right now, she hoped.

* * *

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 ended up being a bit shorter than I expected it to be, but I thought that this chapter could do with a real extensive dialogue between Luz and Amity, and thats what I wanted to focus on. Anyone who knows me and my writing style knows that I upload chapters like this fairly often in my other works. I think it'll lead into what'll happen next chapter - Speaking of which, during this chapter I figured out how many chapters this story will have, and what's going to happen in each - I am extremely excited for all of them!
> 
> I wanted to play up the cultural differences between the Human World and the Boiling Isles world, so I had to throw in a few headcanons, like the Boiling Isles world being called Fasia, and talking about the cast-drawing thing. Since Magic doesn't exist on Earth, I thought that it might make sense to throw in a few ways that the Boiling Isles is different, since I enjoy world-building like that.
> 
> The response you guys gave to this story's first chapter was absolutely incredible, and that made working on this story incredibly fulfilling - Thank you all so much for your support here! If you did enjoy it, please do consider Kudos'ing, favouriting, liking, voting - Whatever is applicable for the site you're reading this on, I'm lazy enough as it is and I'm not writing out three different variations of the same sentiment : D If you could also consider sharing this around as well I would appreciate it - I would love for this story to do well, because I am super proud of everything I've put into this.
> 
> I'm extremely eager for feedback on this one, since I wanna make sure that I got the dialogue between Luz and Amity right. It's been fairly difficult to get a handle on, since Amity tends to vary a fair bit between being an absolute mess and being sane enough to handle being around Luz in canon - I ended up using Wing it Like Witches as my primary source for her in this one, so I'm curious if you all think it was good, if there was anything I could improve upon - I'll try to make any updates to this before I upload Chapter 3 - I'll be preparing to head back to Uni soon so I might be a tad slower on the updates for a bit while that's happening BUT I'll be trying my best regardless.
> 
> Also, notice - I don't speak a bloody word of Spanish. I used Google translate for everything here, I have no clue if this is applicable or if this is nonsense sounding - I choose to blame this on my Britishness :P As I will if it turns out calling Spanish a "Dialect" is offensive - Was not the intention if it is, my goal was to make Amity seem more culturally confused than anything, was not trying to bad-talk Spanish as a language, my apologies if I accidentally did.
> 
> If you're interested in following me, I have a Twitter and a Tumblr - The Tumblr I do more fandom oriented stuff, particularly Lumity these days, and the Twitter I do some more general stuff, including art and politics, and I talk about this story a fair bit on both, so following me there would be appreciated too.
> 
> I will be seeing all of you next time! See ya's!


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